Ban Kazuki: Blanket scenario
by Bonnie tea leaf
Summary: Mission failed, stuck in a cabin, can anything turn to worse? Midou Ban will never know. Yaoi.


Disclaimer: I don't own em, end of story.

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**The Blanket Scenario**

Chapter 1

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It was another fine day in Honky Tonk, where one waitress was doing the dishes, two bored rigid retrieval agents sitting on the counter doing nothing and an orange-haired owner grunting on how incompetent the said retrieval agents were and recited everything concerning their debt. These past few days, Ban and Ginji had been unwaged and penniless. Hevn rarely visits the coffee shop and the whole fliers stuff's not helping either. The Jagan eye master assumed that this is the exact time of the year where he and Ginji will be roaming in the streets, desperate and hungry. And as usual, Ban will constantly go bitchin' about it. 

"Dammit, stupid phone's busted again…" Ban growled angrily at the cell phone in his hand. For the past three hours he'd been staring on it, frantically waiting for a call or a text message from someone who needs their help. Unfortunately, none of it came.

Paul snorted as he turned another page on his ever-so-present newspaper. "You're phone's fine. Just another day of collecting more debts. Is that too hard to accept?"

Ginji slightly whimpered at the mentioning of their debt, "How much do we owe you now, master?"

"About **¥****826,180.75**."

"Eh??" Ginji swore his eye balls just dropped right then and there.

"Hey! Isn't that a tad bit high?" Ban accusingly narrowed his eyes.

"What are you trying to imply?" Paul's eyebrows twitched.

"Maa, Maa, this is not the time to argue, master, Ban-san." Natsumi suddenly appeared between them, "You're scaring the customers away."

Ban snorted as he scanned the whole area with half-lidded eyes, "I don't see any. Honestly, I can't see why this coffee shop's still standing. Not a single customer and still…"

"Why you—!!!" Paul was about lunge at Ban but was immediately held back by Natsumi.

"Ban-chan…" Ginji kindly warned his partner. It's pretty obvious Ban's not in the mood to make good terms with anyone. He's pissed because of the lack of job. Knowing Ban, he'd just constantly complain about everything around him without any particular reason. Intentionally or not.

Then the door chimed a sign that someone entered the quaint café.

"Good morning, everyone." Hevn flipped her hair and flashily smiled on her two favourite retrieval specialists.

"Hevn-san!" Ginji greeted back with much enthusiasm.

With the mere mentioning of that name, Ban's ears perked up and as usual, he jumped off from his seat and went to give his old friend a tight hug (Noting that the said friend will be the one to deliver another well-paid job). "Hevn-san!!! I thought you'd never—!" BAM! Before he knew it, he fell hard on floor with his face. Hevn decisively stepped aside.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Ban." Hevn brushed him aside and sat on the usual corner of the café. Ginji and Ban followed in suit.

"It's been weeks, Hevn-san. Where have you been?" Ginji curiously asked the blonde mediator.

Hevn innocently blinked, "Don't I at least have the right to take a vacation, Ginji-kun?"

"You went on a vacation leaving us starving??" Ban snarled angrily, remembering the fact why he had been all grumpy the past few days. The anger he felt towards the mediator turned ice-cold.

Hevn shrugged her shoulders, "Didn't think you'd actually be jobless in two straight weeks."

"Wha—!!!"

But before Ban could curse Hevn from hell and back, Ginji immediately interrupted. "Ehehe… how's your vacation?"

"It's great!" Hevn smiled out of euphoria as she recalled her vacation. "New York was wonderful. I visited the statue of liberty and—"

"Oh, oh, the one with ice cream in her hand, ne, ne?" Tare Ginji once again mimicked the statue of liberty.

Hevn smiled fondly, "Hai. That one." (At least he got it right this time.)

"Heee! Hevn-san is so lucky! I want to see the statue too—!" In the midst of his fan dance, Ban shoved him hard on the wall. The moment their conversation started about that freakin' statue, Ban's nerves were already popping out of his forehead. He could almost taste the blood in his mouth after biting it in attempts of controlling his rising temper. Tare Ginji though gave it all away.

"I have no time for tea party chit-chat," Ban spoke, directing his eyes back to Hevn's golden ones, "let's get down to business, shall we?"

Natsumi however went and plucked Ginji from the wall.

"Not until everyone's here." She crossed her arms and looked directly over to the door.

Ban's left eye twitched, "What do you mean—" he was cut-short when the familiar chime of the door caught his ears.

"Yo," beast-master Fuyuki Shido greeted as he entered the café.

Tinkle of small bells were heard next and there stood behind Shido was no other than, Kazuki.

"Shido, Kazu-chan!" Ginji exclaimed happily.

Kazuki gently smiled at his raitei in return but then the smile turned into a frown as he felt Ban's eyes settling angrily towards him.

Ban scowled, "Oi!" he furiously turned towards Hevn who happens to be sitting innocently on her seat. "You're not going to share _our_ job with them, are you?" he swore, if ever Hevn says yes, he'll strangle her to death.

Hevn replied, "The clients requested for them too. There's nothing you can do about it."

"Demo, Hevn-san…" even Ginji was disappointed, albeit the fact that Shido and Kazuki are his friends. The thought of sharing their pay for this job with two other people means it'll lessen their expected amount. He's been starving for days and Ban's been taking all his pent-up grumpiness towards him. He's desperate for money so they could eat a decent meal and to lessen Ban's usual tantrums.

"Look, are you just gonna sit there and whine or are you gonna accept the job I'm about to offer?" She accusingly sent a glare towards Ban and the Jagan master scoffed in return. Once everyone was settled, the mediator started the briefing. She plucked one photo between her cleavage and presented it to the group. "The client wants you to retrieve this."

Ginji looked closely on the picture, "Eh? A butterfly?"

Hevn smiled, "Not just any ordinary butterfly, Ginji-kun. This is the Parnassian Butterfly."

Ginji felt awfully dizzy from the confusing name mentioned, "Parna-what?" the thunder emperor cocked his head as he asked.

"Parnassian butterfly, subfamily Parnassinae of the cosmopolitan family Papillonidae." Ban contributed, crossing his arms and leaned back, "You can call it Apollo if you have a hard time pronouncing the name, Ginji."

Tare-Ginji nodded enthusiastically, "Apollo! Hai! Ban-chan's so smart…"

Ban grinned, "Heh, been watching a lot shows from animal planet…"

"You? Watching TV? Ch, you don't even have one…" Shido side-commented, having the same smug smirk on his face.

"What did you say??" Ban snapped, for the umpteenth time.

"Ban-chan, calm down!" Ginji struggled to hold his partner down.

"You're broke and have no proper place to stay in. So, how am I supposed to believe that you're watching TV?"

"Shido-san…" Ginji doesn't like what's about to come. The moment Ban loses his temper, it'll be the end of the world.

"Shut up, monkey boy! Dammit, why are you here anyway? I don't see your use in this mission."

"…" Kazuki silently watched the two with his temper slowly rising to its peak. _Why are they always like this?_

"Does it occur to you that we're retrieving an _animal_, which is obviously MY forte, yebi yarou??"

"Forte? Ha! Forte my ass!"

"You foul-mouthed piece of—you're nothing but an immature whiner, yebi-yarou. Why don't you do us all a favour and go away? Play with your fellow snake friends. In fact, I'll call them for you." Shido made an attempt to whistle but was promptly cut-short by the salt-shaker thrown directly on his face.

"…" Hevn's eye twitched as she watched the exchange with annoyance.

"Fucking, stupid bastard good for not—"

"Stop it, you two!" Kazuki finally cracks, his bells tinkling gently as he slammed a hand down the table. Three men gaped at him as they felt the table quiver from the impact. Hevn on the other hand was damn glad the commotion was over. "We're here for a mission briefing and here you are acting like two little brats fighting over nonsensical things!" brown eyes annoyingly directed towards Shido, "I thought you're mature enough to ignore _his_ stupid mockery…" Kazuki accusingly pointed towards Ban.

"Hey!"

"… but here you are acting childish just like him. What will Madoka say about this?"

"But!"

"Enough!" Kazuki narrowed his eyes towards Shido, which immediately tamed the animal trainer down. He sat back on his chair and sighed.

"Kazu-chan…" Ginji worriedly addressed his friend. Provoking Kazuki to get angry rarely happens. Heck, even Paul and Natsumi paused from whatever their doing just to watch an infrequently incident happening inside Honky Tonk. Perhaps, Shido and Ban's usual battle of wits was a little bit too much for its own good.

Brown eyes opened and then a smile followed, "I'm fine, Ginji-kun." He replied, noticing Ban glaring death towards his direction. Kazuki inwardly sighed again. He's in for it now. Nothing will stop Ban from glaring at him till he dug holes in his forehead.

"Can we proceed with the briefing now?" Hevn inquired the group and received no answer, "Oookay, I guess that's a _yes_."

"Who's the client?" Ban asked, shifting his eyes away from Kazuki to the blonde sitting before him.

"That, I can't answer. It's the client's assistant who met up with me yesterday. He said our client wishes not to be named."

"How odd." Ginji commented.

"Why does he want the butterfly, mediator?" Shido asked, despite the fact that he knew the answer to his own question.

"Probably to add up in his collection, I dunno…" Hevn shrugged her shoulders, "Parnassian's one of the rarest butterflies in the world and it's a prized possession for every collector."

Shido snorted irritably, "Humans…" He was in the brink of not accepting the job. Helping someone who has the intention of imprisoning one of nature's most beautiful creatures angers him. Maybe he should really refuse the task. "I'm out." He suddenly stood up, earning a gasp of surprise from the blonde mediator.

"Shido-san!" Hevn frantically called and was about to follow the beast master if only Kazuki hadn't pulled her back. Hevn questioningly looked at her and Kazuki shook his head in return. Sighing, Hevn sat back and grumpily pursed her lips.

"One down, one to go." Ban muttered as he meaningfully directed his gaze towards Kazuki. The thread master only blinked.

"I guess you three can handle this one…" Hevn said.

"Don't worry, Hevn-san. What's so hard retrieving a small Parmesan butterfly?"

"Parnassian, Ginji-kun." Kazuki corrected with a consoling smile.

"Yeah, just what he said."

Hevn shook her head, "How long did it take you to retrieve one watermelon before, Ginji-kun?"

Both Ginji and Ban went tight-lipped.

To be continued...


End file.
